Talk:Other Xenos (NPCs usually)
Building a non-warlike race Something of a request but why not a race that has managed to survive without being a hyper-violent species? Heresy, right? Hear me out first. One idea that I had come up with was something like the Bothans from Star Wars. They find the idea of fighting over something to be idiotic because not only is it a waste of resources to fight but after the battle whatever you fought over will be damaged as well. As a result they have become a nomadic space faring so as to better avoid unnecessary confrontations﻿. They also find information to be a most valuable resource and possess a device that allows for instantaneous transmitions of information across the vastness of the galaxy (studies of the mysterious dataslate like tabletes have spawned theories of Quantum Entanglement), allowing them to map out the positions of other forces in the Materium (Orks, 'Nids, Necrons, Imperium, etc.) by shared reports from their scouts (or lack thereof) and safely avoid them. Opportunistic, they are also willing to share their precious information to other races, for the right price of course. Demanding outrageous tributes ranging from crops to weapons, Thrones, slaves, precious gems, or even new information should they verify it and feel it a fair trade, their information is always relevant, accurate and begrudgingly useful, warning Planetary-Governors and Inquisitors of approaching enemy fleets, heretical cults, etc. they have even been called upon by less Puritan members of the Ordos Xenos to gain insight on more obscure Xenos species or as a messenger service to send urgent information that would arrive too late if sent by Telepath. The Imperium finds them to be little more than opportunistic vermin but they have proved useful and have rarely contested against Imperial forces and as such are somewhat tolerated in comparison to most other Xenos. In regards to Chaos, Bothans' have been known to occassionally join the ranks of Slaanesh or Zteentch but there has never been a Bothan to be swayed by the Lord of Skulls or Flies, their blood thirsty/decaying natures being the antitheis of their beliefs. Otherwise Chaos pillagers popping out of the Warp have proven to be a great nuisance to them, combined with Chaos' unreliable nature Bothans' rarely ever make deals with Chaos. Relations with Craftworld, Exodite and Harlequin Eldar are strictly business, both sides proving useful (for now), but between the Eldars' distain for other races and the Bothans' inability to learn the secrets of the enigmatic race there is no love lost between them. Dark Eldar are the most hated of all the Bothans' enemies, with their use of the Webway Bothans cannot predict their ambushes and their avoidance of battle has made them easy pickings for the hedonistic raiders, desperate messages being broadcast across the void as warnings to their solemn brothers. It probably came as a surprise to the Dark Eldar when the Bothans' so quickly adjusted their tactics so as to better repel the invaders from their ships, keeping them at range to avoid their deadly blades, utilizing fast acting antidotes to the paralyzing poison of their splinter weapons, even modifying their ships so as to seal off doors to slow their advance and electrifying the floors to stun them long enough to die by their guns. Despite their pacifistic methods, the Tau have largely revoked the Bothan, The Bothan Way being the perfect antithesis of the Tau's Greater Good and the Bothans have chosen to simply avoid the ideological race. On the other hand the Bothans have found reliable trading partners with several of the Tau's allies, most notably the Demiurg and the Kroot. Ta, da! Not bad right? I could use some help deciding what weapons they use, culture, if they have psykers or not, how they react to psykers (with revulsion like the Imperium or with respect like Kroot Shamen), do they use the Warp at all or use interstellar travel exclusively or some other means, stats, racial goals, etc. I don't know if I did this in the correct format, if not please don't delete what I wrote (excluding this paragraph) but cut and paste it in the correct place. Why did I write this...? Ah! Right! Races that aren't hyper-violent monsters! Look at what I wrote, pasifistic for the most part while still being able to realistically survive and still kind of grim-dark. I'd like to see more races like that, I'd especially like some more exotic races, like a crysaline or liquid based species, maybe expand on a race mentioned in passing in one of the novels/RP manuals, the shapeshifting Simulacra come to mind. :It's certainly an interesting concept. I do know that canonically, there are a fair number of non-warlike races in the 40k universe; it's just that no one pays them much mind, because Warhammer 40,000 is a wargame, and folks who don't do much fighting aren't a whole lot of fun in a wargame. In games like Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Deathwatch, and Black Crusade, on the other hand, there's plenty of room for a race of xenos information-brokers for the PCs to interact with. :One possible idea is to take the fundamental concept behind their communications technology (IE quantum entanglement) and expand it to other things, like their weapons and starships. (Now, I know bugger-all about how real quantum mechanics works, so please excuse me if I suggest anything that's blatantly wrong or impossible.) Perhaps this race has mastered a form of short-range, non-Warp-based teleportation, allowing them to achieve something akin to faster-than-light travel? Enough to teleport a small starship a couple of light-years with flawless accuracy, say. This would allow them to wander about (and easily dodge the fleets of the more warlike races), while restricting their capacity for building their own empire, because it's still functionally slower than the FTL of the Imperium or even the Tau. Let's say this works on a personal level, too, allowing a member of this race to easily move from starship to planet, or from place to place on a planet's surface; even from planet to planet, if they trust the technology enough and they know the area well enough. If this technology were weaponized, it could also be a good way to send an aggressor somewhere else where he can't hurt you, without all that nasty business of actually fighting. Naturally, the Adeptus Mechanicus would literally kill for functioning examples of any of these technologies -- hooray, more plot hooks! :Regarding psykers, I think that whether or not this race has any psychic potential itself, it probably doesn't think too highly of them. In 40k, psykers are used primarily for two things, long-range communication and killing people, and this race seems to have little use of them for either. There might be an exception for psykers capable of divining the future, since that's one bit of information that this race's technology can't provide it with. I imagine a lot of their business dealings with the Eldar are for glimpses of the future. :Those are my thoughts on the subject. Let me know what you think. -- Servitor 2152 02:57, April 15, 2011 (UTC)